The Full Moon After Lily Knows
by ForeverLovingToRead
Summary: Last Full Moon Lily found out about the commitment James, Sirius, and Peter made to their friend. This full moon, she is determined to help in any way possible.


Lily couldn't stop checking the time. It had only been an hour since James had kissed her on his way out to the whomping willow. She had made sure to get one of the chairs in the common room that sat by the window facing the tree. That way she could watch as her boys made their way down their, the full moon just starting to make its appearance. She held her breath when she noticed the tree freeze. Two figures emerged from the forbidden forest and quickly made their way to the tree, a stag and a large dog disappeared inside the tree. They were fast enough that they weren't seen by anyone who wasn't specifically looking for them.

Lily had figured out what Remus was a year and a half ago. She had decided not to tell him, he had tried so hard to keep his secret, better not to let him know he hadn't been as careful as he thought. Plus, Lily did her research. She knew the risks if news got out. But what she hadn't figured out until the four boys had actually told her, was James, Sirius, and Peter's part of it. It all made sense now, she had believed they knew Remus' secret and as an attempt to keep his secret, they simply stayed in their dorm room so nobody would realize that one of them was missing. When she started dating James, almost two months ago now, she had decided it was finally time to reveal her knowledge of their secret. It wasn't uncommon for her to visit their room and spend time with them. It was nice to get away from prying eyes and spend time with her boyfriend's best mates. So, last month on the night of the full moon she made her way up to their dorm expecting to find the three boys not transforming into a werewolf. Instead she found four empty beds. She decided to wait for them, assuming they were just getting food or pulling a prank. She hadn't expected to fall asleep in James' bed and woken up at four in the morning to Sirius cursing.

Lily bolted awake when she heard the boys enter the dorm. Sirius and Peter were on either side of James, trying to help him get to his bed when they found Lily asleep. Changing their direction, they went to help James onto Sirius' bed instead. It was only after they had him laying down that Lily noticed the blood running down James' leg.

"What the hell happened?" Lily asked, jumping up to stand next to her boyfriend.

Sirius ignored her for a minute as he used a spell to cut the bottom of James' trousers so they could better see the wound. "Dammit Prongs, you should have let us know how bad it was, we wouldn't have stayed as long." He muttered under his breath to his best friend.

"It's fine, only started hurting." James waved off the concern.

"Liar" Sirius moved away from the bed towards a cabinet against the opposite wall. Having forgotten Lily was in the room he continued. "Remus is going to kill me when he finds out and then he is going to kill you. You know it tears him up when one of us gets hurt."

"Well, he will just have to -" But James was interrupted before he could finish.

"You were with Remus!" Lily yelled. "He could have killed you. What in the hell were you thinking? Did he bite you?"

All three boys visibly gulped as they realized their mistake.

"Now love, why would Remus biting me be a concern?" James tried to play off, hoping that their assumption that she didn't know their secret was still true.

"Oh please, I know he's a werewolf, if known for a couple years now. I also know how dangerous it is for humans to spend time with him when he is transformed." She huffed. Arms angrily crossed against her chest.

The three boys shared a knowing look before they told her the truth. How they had become animagus so that they could help their friend. How even a bit was no danger to them while they were transformed and how it helped Remus with him transformations. They explained how he used to hurt himself, that he had scars everywhere because he was alone and scared and had no control over his actions. But now, he had friends and they were able to play and ruff house and let out steam. His recovery time after full moons had decreased. He only needed a day or so of sleep as opposed to when he used to not feel well for a week afterwards. They explained that he was locked into the shrieking shack via a tunnel that started at the whomping willow. How Peter as a rat was small enough to hit the knob to still the tree long enough for the Stag and Dog to enter. They told her everything, and when they were done Lily was in awe of these boys. To have put themselves at risk at such a young age for their best friends. How they hadn't rested for years until they were able to perform magic that should have been impossible as fifth years. She had a million questions, but as she inspected each of the three boys she noticed how James was still pale from the blood loss of his injury and Peter was barely able to stand due to exhaustion. Sirius was resting his entire body weight against the bed frame. They needed rest. So he made sure James' leg was patched up properly. Apparently, they had plenty of practice with injuries like these. Then she kissed James on the lips, followed by Sirius and Peter both on their checks and left them to sleep.

She hadn't been able to fall back asleep that morning and she used the couple hours before class starts thinking about all the sacrifices the three boys had made. It made her heart swell that they were so loyal.

Lily had then headed to breakfast alone, not bothering to wait for her boyfriend and the others knowing they needed their sleep. After that she made her way to Transfiguration and took her usual seat. She wasn't looking forward to the next couple classes alone, she and James hadn't been together long but she already relied on him to make classes fly by at least a little bit faster.

But she wasn't alone. The three boys ran into the classroom with seconds to spare, taking their seats with quick apologies. McGonagall, with a clear look of annoyance, told them that if they continued to be late they would make up the missed class time in detention. Anger flared in Lily, her teacher that she admired had no idea what the circumstances were and she decided to berate them. That's when the guilt set in, for years Lily had done the same thing. Whenever they had forgotten an assignment or fallen asleep in class, complained about having missed breakfast or their not being enough time in the day, she had commented on how they needed to sort out their priorities. She had made the same mistakes that her professor had just made. The truth was that their priorities were very much in order, putting their friend before everything else. It was admirable, because they could never tell people the truth and they could never defend themselves. They had to take the comments and punishments as they came without complaint.

From that point on, Lily vowed, she would do her part for Remus transformations.

That's how she found herself watching the whomping willow from the Gryffindor tower. The seat she chose was both so that she could seem them but also so that no one else would just by chance look out and run the risk of seeing them. After an hour or two, she made her way up to their dorm. She checked the cabinet that Sirius had rifled through last full moon. Inside was a collection of healing potions, pepper up potions and bandages. Everything they needed in case someone got hurt. Lily had researched some of the potions, gone through their supply to check expiration dates and replacing what was needed. She had made sure to stock up on chocolate and snacks during their last hogsmeade trip. Then she went to work making sure each of the boys had packed their bags for the following morning, this way they would be less likely to accidentally forget an assignment. She had made sure that everything had been completed the night before. Then she cleaned the floor. Using a quick spell she was able to pick up all of the dirty clothes littering the floor and organized random papers on their desks. With the days leading up to the full moon she knew Remus was beginning to get tired so she had made sure to take extra detailed notes even in the classes that she usually didn't need to. Lily tried to think of every little detail that would make the lives of these four boys just a little bit easier. Then all she could do was wait for their return. Remus, of course, would be staying in the Hospital Wing tomorrow but the other three would make their way here. She curled up in James' bed reading before she fell asleep. She woke up to a kiss against her forehead. James was standing over her smiling.

"Hey," she whispered up at him. "Is everyone alright? Any injuries?"

"Nope," he replied.

"I better head back to my room then." She made to get up.

"You could stay here you know?" James replied.

"Ok," She scouted over, leaving room for her boyfriend to lay down next to her. "I think your bed is more comfortable than mine anyway." She added as she leaned against him after he laid down.

"Mhm" was the only response she got. The rest was lost as he fell asleep.

The next morning, or at least later that morning, Lily was the first up. She had made sure the alarm clocks in the room had been set for a later time and she had even befriended the house left the room quickly to take a shower and change and by the time she came back the house elves had already stopped by with the breakfast she had requested they deliver.

At 8 o'clock, she decided it was finally time to get the boys up, leaving them half an hour to change and get ready for their first class. She had laid out their robes and bags to make it easier for them when she did get up.

She started with James, sitting on his bed closer to the headboard. He looked peaceful in his sleep, almost so that she didn't want to wake him. Even without injury, he had had a long night. But she smiled, that's why she was here to help him. Lily leaned down to kiss him on the lips.

"Wake up love." She whispered.

James stirred, obviously unhappy from being awaken.

"Get up James. I've got breakfast and all your stuff is ready to go. We've got class in twenty minutes." James opened his eyes and smiled at his girlfriend. As soon as she saw him stretching she knew he was awake and moved on to Peter.

"Peter, it's time to get up. I've got breakfast." She decided that the best way to wake him was to back up her claim of food with a plate of food on the bedside table next to him. She was happy to see it worked, he was reaching over for a slice of bacon before she could even turn her back to move on to the toughest of them all.

"Alright Black, you have a little over fifteen minutes to get dressed, eat and get to class." Lily used her best head girl voice. The boy didn't even move. "Sirius, I'm not kidding. I've done everything I can to help you, but if you're late I can't keep you from a detention." Again, Sirius gave no indication to waking up.

Lily smirked, even if no one could see it. "Come on Paddy," She said in her best baby voice. She moved closer to Sirius. "Who's a good boy?" She reached over to rub his head. She figured treating him like a dog was the only way to make him recognize her. "I'll give you a treat if you wake up? Come one . . . do you want your belly rubbed?"

With a groan Sirius found he couldn't ignore her anymore. "Prongs mate," he muttered. "I think your girl is coming on to me." With a smile of success she kissed his cheek before getting up.

"Alright boys, you have a little less than fifteen minutes to be in class. It's about a four minute walk from here so please leave with plenty of time. I am going to head out now." She moved to kiss her boyfriend one last time before grabbing her backpack and leaving the dorm.

All three boys stared at the door Lily had just left from.

"Well Prongs, I think we've found a keeper." Sirius said through a mouth full of potatoes.

"We?" James asked from the bathroom.

"Oh come on. Even you can't deny that if she didn't care about all of us, you wouldn't let her stick around, even if she is Lily Evans. And a girl doesn't take every precaution to protect his friends if she didn't love him. She's one of us now." Sirius said matter-of-factually as he finished getting dressed and grab his stuff ready to go.


End file.
